Summer Art Camps for Kids a Hit

By Misty Cryer

Carlsbad Area Art Association (CAAA) recently opened registration for four five-day summer art camps for kids aged five and up, with each camp accommodating 25 campers.

The July camps, held at The Artist Gallery, offer 10 hours of art instruction, materials and supplies, a camp T-shirt, and daily snacks to 100 registered kids free of charge, thanks to the generosity of camp sponsors. All camps filled up in two days.

“One of our newest gallery members, Angie Johnson, did all the fundraising and got all the logistics together to make these camps run,” said Jean Prominski, CAAA President.

Johnson has been a member of The Artist Gallery since March. “I make reusable bags that have a water-proof lining that go in the wash; they go in the dryer,” said Johnson.

The bags can be used for food and snacks, laundry, storage of clean clothes, makeup, or essential oils, for example, she said. “My kids put everything in theirs.”

In addition to the reusable bags in various sizes and styles, Johnson said, “I also do whipped tallow.” She said she dry renders the tallow and mostly uses frankincense, lavender, and jojoba oil, which she said are all things that are good for the face and skin.

Creating ice-dyed tea towels is another form of art that Johnson engages in. “They are made from a 100% cotton flour sack, and they actually soak up water,” said Johnson, explaining that ice-dyed towels don’t bleed or fade easily, so they last a long time.

“Kids are the future of our art,” said Johnson. “We need to feed into that and provide something for them,” she said.

The teacher for the summer camps at The Artist Gallery is Lois Hickman. “She did some art classes for Southeast New Mexico Homeschool Hub, which I’m a part of,” said Johnson. “The kids loved her,” she said, adding that Haley Rojas will be providing instruction for some of the projects.

Describing the classes that Hickman taught, Johnson said they included kids creating true art with their hands, with the freedom to explore it. She said this is what is needed for each child to experience art, working with their imagination, their hands, their development, and creativity. “For every kid, that’s a little different.”

The scheduled art camps will include experiences in mosaic tile art, stained-glass lanterns, dream catchers, pantyhose sculpture, and brushstroke painting, said Johnson.

She said she reached out to a friend to see if the company she worked for would be interested in sponsoring the art camp, received some suggestions, and discussed it with the Rotary Club. The result was the ability to provide four camps accommodating 100 kids in the community, fully sponsored by Kyvek Energy Services Inc., ConocoPhillips, The Golf Society, and Carlsbad Community Foundation.

In approaching potential sponsors, Johnson said she offered the opportunity to sponsors with different options. Each sponsor chose to sponsor a full five-day camp. “It was amazing,” she said, adding that within two days, the camps were fully sponsored.

When made public, the camps were also filled up in two days. Johnson said she gave some flyers about the summer camps to Carlsbad MainStreet to display on the table at the Carlsbad Downtown Farmers and Makers Market, gave some to the sponsors, and put them on Facebook. “I wasn’t surprised that they filled up, but I was shocked at how fast it happened,” she said.

“My goal is to bring more kid-oriented art into the community for classes that would run all year,” said Johnson, mentioning ideas for camps when the kids are not in school, and perhaps an after-school program.

“We have space for it, and it is a need of the community,” she said, adding that it would also bring more awareness to the organization and interest in getting involved in the art community.